Valentine Torchwood Style
by Earendil Eldar
Summary: Ianto has a secret Valentine... but who?
1. Chapter 1

"Ianto! I need that file on the air-space incursion from May 2006…. Very early in the month. Think it was the 4th." Jack chuckled, "May the forth be with you."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Right. Two ticks."

Ianto had no difficulty locating the requested file. What was stuck in the drawer with it, however, made him sigh. A crimson silk tie, peeking out of the very folder Jack needed. Sweet, or obnoxious, he wasn't sure which.

"_3__rd_ of May," Ianto said when he deposited the file on Jack's desk a few moments later. "And the tie is very nice."

Jack looked up at him. "Of course it is, you have good taste… and _a_ good taste. Um… is there a reason you're 'prompting' compliments?"

"I'm not prompting," Ianto said, slightly offended. "It was a 'thanks.'"

"Thanks for what?"

"For the tie."

"I don't remember giving you that one."

Ianto took a long breath. "Not this one. The one you cleverly hid in the file you just 'happened' to need."

"_I _hid a tie in a file in your archives? That's news to me."

"Bloody hell, Jack. What's the point in giving a gift if you're suddenly going to go all shy and refuse to even graciously accept the gratitude with a 'you're welcome'?"

"Ianto… I didn't. Seriously."

"No? Then who? Janet?"

"Why do I get the feeling that you'd be less annoyed with a Weevil pawing through your files than me doing the same?"

"Because one is an unfortunate, heedless alien that just happened to end up stuck underground in the middle of Cardiff through no fault of its own, and the other is a Weevil. Anyway, thank you, whether you admit it or not."

"I didn't…!"

"Ok. You didn't. I'm putting on coffee. Having some now or would you rather leave it for later?"

"I'll have a cup, thanks. But I _really_ don't know anything about a tie."

"Alright," Ianto said, surreptitiously rolling his eyes as he left Jack's office. Opening the coffee cupboard for the canister, Ianto found 3 bars of his favorite, extra-dark chocolate tied with a thin red ribbon. He sighed deeply. Well, at least Jack hadn't been 'pawing' through the coffee to cleverly hide chocolate. He supposed Jack would deny depositing those as well and vaguely wondered what else he'd be finding stashed around the Hub like Easter eggs.

Ianto almost groaned out loud when he realized what all this was… February 7. A week before Valentine's Day. Ianto absolutely despised Valentine's Day and everything to do with it and had done since childhood. The ritual of exchanging little cards with classmates was agonizing for a shy lad, especially once he began to realize that he fancied some of the other lads as well as the girls.

Ianto unwrapped a chocolate bar and put it on the coffee tray with the coffees for him and Jack. Two could play this game, Ianto thought, heading up.

"Someone left some very nice chocolate in my coffee cupboard," Ianto said, setting the tray away from Jack's train wreck of a desk and handing him a coffee and half a chocolate bar on the napkin. "Thought I'd share with you."

"Oh? Thanks," Jack said, shoving some requisition forms aside to give Ianto a place to set his coffee for a few minutes. "This really is good."

"Should be. They're about 12 pounds per bar."

"Nice. So… somebody gave you a tie and chocolate? Am I facing competition? And, if so, how stiff is it?"

Ianto ignored the last question. "Don't know, maybe you are. I'd rather like to know who, though. I mean, I'm reasonably sure Gwen hasn't gone off Rhys," _or you_, he thought, "and neither do I think Owen's gone ben-… uh, for blokes. Tosh, maybe? Though, she's hardly the type to play hide-and-seek – _don't_ say it!"

"Well, I think it's sweet, but you are right. Does seem out of character for any of our crew. Do you think there's something going on we don't know about?"

"Maybe it's Myfawny – the dark chocolate and all. Except I don't think her fingery-things are dexterous enough to tie the little ribbon these were wrapped in. Maybe she had some help?"

"How'd she get down to the archives?" Jack posed.

"Fair point. She must be having a lot of help, then."

"Ok, but seriously. What do you think this is all about?"

Ianto let out a long breath. "Alright, Jack. Is there a reason you're dragging this out? I really don't like Valentine's Day at all, but I'm not going to have a go at you for giving me a couple things."

"Ianto, for the last time, I swear I had nothing to do with this. Uh… I had something else in mind, kinda, nothing big, I promise."

Ianto looked long and hard at Jack, but saw no sign of his usual 'tells.' "Alright, then, I think I really do need to know what's up. Probably just Owen thinking he's taking the mickey, but I have a low tolerance for Valentine's Day and combined with my equally low tolerance for practical jokes, this isn't very amusing."

"You're probably right. Should I have a word with him?"

"No," Ianto said, "that would make it worse. I don't need anyone to fight for me. I may just remind him that I wield complete and total control over the amount of blood in his caffeine-stream. That usually sorts him for a while."


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell is wrong with your teaboy now?" Owen demanded, barging into Jack's office.

"Not a thing, last time I checked. And I checked _very_ recently," Jack grinned. "Thoroughly."

Owen growled. "You have no sense of decency, have you? I'm talking about this," he said, thrusting half a cup of coffee at Jack. "You drink that and tell me he's not fucked off about something."

"Mine's perfect. Like my coffee like I like my men, sweet and milky," Jack grinned again. "You know, Owen, maybe you should tell him how you feel. I mean, the little hints… not Ianto's style. He likes the direct approach. Of course, if he goes for you over me, I might have to kill you. That or join you."

Owen looked genuinely horrified. "What the bullocks are you banging on about?"

"Well, I wasn't supposed to say anything, but the little things he's been finding around here. I sure didn't hide a silk tie in his files. I know better. He'd strangle me with it."

"I do _not_ have the first clue what you're talking about, mate," Owen said flatly.

Jack gave him a long look and came to the conclusion that Owen really didn't have anything to do with mysterious ties and chocolates. Owen's poker face never was that good.

Could it really have been Tosh, he wondered. That would require a more delicate approach, but he really didn't think…. Then again, she was close to Ianto, he knew that, and given how her interest in Owen went directly over the medic's head, maybe it wasn't so far-fetched….

Later that afternoon when Ianto appeared with coffee and biscuits, there was a single rose on the coffee tray. He handed it to Jack and said, "There are another 23 just like it on the counter in the tourist office."

Jack raised a brow. "Well, I've divined that it wasn't Owen. And he insulted your coffee. Well, _his_ coffee, because the one I had earlier was perfect as ever."

"What makes you sure?"

"You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to con a conman."

"Former."

Jack nodded. "Still, I can tell. Owen's not half as stony as he likes to think."

"So… tie, chocolate, flowers. And you're not just being coy?"

"Ianto…. _Coy_ is not a term anyone's ever attached to me."

"I imagine not. Do you think Gwen would be bothered doing all this for a wind up?"

Jack thought about it for a minute. "I kind of doubt it. And she _definitely_ would give the game away."

"Good point."

"It definitely doesn't seem like something Toshiko would do… but… suppose she's trying to get herself off of Owen?"

Ianto snorted. "I think not. Not in this universe anyway. Trust me, she sees me as the 'gay best friend,' even if she's never said it in so many words."

Jack grinned. "That's cute."

Ianto sighed. "Well, I guess nobody's ever had a 'bisexual best friend.'"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Forget the label, it's still cute. Anyway… this is starting to bug me. I think I want to scan this stuff for… anything, really. Something's got to be up, and I'm not sure I like something being 'up' around here."

"Agreed. We probably shouldn't have eaten the chocolate… but it seemed fine, yeah?"

"Yeah," Jack said, rummaging through his desk and pulling out a hand-held scanner. "Let's see what we can see, shall we?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Absolutely nothing," Jack shook his head. "Completely normal 21st century earth materials."

"And no more Rift signature traces than anything else that's been in this place for more than 15 minutes."

"I think we need to have a look at the CCTV footage. What do you think?"

"Yep." Ianto slid closer to Jack as Jack pulled up interior shots of the Hub from the time they powered down the night before. There was mostly nothing except for Myfawny coming and going for a midnight fly over the bay… and a brief, naked chase through the Hub that Ianto insisted be deleted. Jack refused, claiming there might be a clue in the background that would require painstaking study to spot – work Jack selflessly volunteered for.

"Jack… there's nothing here. Maybe we need to look earlier?"

"It could only have been one of us earlier, we were here, we'd have noticed anything unusual sneaking around."

Ianto shrugged and finished off his coffee. "Well, it's up to you. I've got Weevils and pteranodons to feed."

"Ianto?"

He glanced up from tidying away their mugs and plates.

"Be careful. Just in case."

Ianto nodded and stepped over to give Jack a quick peck on the cheek. A few minutes later, Ianto rang in on Jack's comms. "Found another, Jack. An envelope – very nice red stationery, wax sealed – containing dinner reservations and concert tickets."

"Uh huh. For two?"

"Yep."

"Do you get the feeling this is a trap?"

"Don't know, Jack. Find anything further there?"

"Not really," Jack sighed. "Every so often there seems to be a blip on the screen but I think it's just a mote of dust caught in the light."

Ianto brought the envelope up to Jack's office before taking Myfawny's dinner up to her aerie. "It's Khachaturian," Ianto said.

"It's a what?!" Jack said, alarmed.

"Aram Khachaturian. Violin concerto. It is a beautiful piece."

Jack still looked confused.

"The tickets."

"Oh…."

"Anyway, maybe we can trace who bought the tickets through the concert hall. They should have records matching up to the seats sold."

"Good idea," Jack said.

"I'll have a look into that right after feeding our guard dog."

"I could -"

"Leave it to me, Jack. I'm a little more subtle."

"Alright," Jack pouted.

Ianto smirked and headed up to the aerie with Myfawny's usual fare as well as a bit of the chocolate he'd found earlier.

"Here, birdie," he called softly, not wanting to startle his pterosaur.

Myfawny gave a chirp, but didn't hurry out to greet Ianto like she usually did. Ianto moved up a little closer to peer into the cave she inhabited. What he saw there was unexpected, to say the least.

"Jack?" Ianto said quietly, tapping his comms. "I think you need to see this. Come quietly. Very quietly."

Jack wasted no time hurrying up to the pterodactyl perch, moving as silently as possible. He had his Webley drawn, coming up behind Ianto. "What is it?" he hissed.

"I could hazard a guess," Ianto whispered. "It's got a bow and quiver, feathered wings, and is quite… naked."

In an instant, Jack was looking over Ianto's shoulder. "Whoa. No way… is that…?"

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised," Ianto muttered.

Jack stepped around Ianto, hesitating to get too close when Myfawny chirruped sharply at him. "He's… gorgeous."

"If you don't mind, can we finish ogling the intruder and get on finding out who, or what, it is?"

"Don't be jealous," Jack grinned, then cleared his throat. "Hi. Mind waking up? You're kinda crashing in our place, here."

The naked young man opened his eyes, far too wide awake far too quickly. He smiled at Ianto, then winked at Jack.

"Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones. And who are you…?"

Ianto huffed behind him.

"I'm just being polite," Jack protested.

Ianto rolled his eyes.

The young man smiled again, shook his head, uncurled from Myfawny's side, rustled his wings slightly, and vanished. Myfawny stared at the space he'd previously occupied, looking disappointed before turning a hopeful look to Ianto… and a hungry glance at Jack.

Jack took a couple steps back while Ianto set Myfawny's dinner tray down and patted her crest. "There's a good girl. We don't eat our Captain, remember?"

Jack couldn't hold back a short laugh.

"Behave," Ianto grumbled.

"Well… I think our mystery is solved, Mr. Jones. At least, it is to my satisfaction. For now, anyway. In the interim… perhaps you'd like to join me at the theatre next week – and dinner?"

"I thought you said you were 'planning something.'"

Jack shrugged. "I also said it wasn't anything big. Well… I mean, _something_ big is involved, obviously. Or, two somethings. And there's no reason other plans should preclude those plans. Shall we?"

"Yes, alright," Ianto said. "Breaking down my resistance to holidays one by one," he grumbled, fetching Myfawny's empty tray and heading back down.

Jack could only grin and make a mental note to bring something more original than red roses when he picked Ianto up for dinner and the symphony.


End file.
